Happy Birthday to a sweet friend!

16 years ago today, a very sweet, wonderful girl was born!! :) ANNA RUTH MORRIS!!!!! For the short time I have known her, she has grown to be one of my closest friends I have. :) Since she is SO different than her sister Bethany, I wont do this blog post to embarrass her but to let you all know how wonderful she is! :) I'll post 16 pictures and write 16 things about her!!! :) (c'mon it is her SIXTEENTH birthday!) ;)

1. Very, very VERY sweet and kind

2. Would never want to hurt ANYONE's feelings

3. Quiet but loves to have fun!

4. LOVES cows

5. A wonderful photographer!

6. A "little mom" to most of her siblings

7. SO selfless, I mean she always denies her self even if it's something she really wants to do

8. A willing servant to those around her

9. One of the best piano players I have EVER heard... I am not joking! :)

10. Bakes the best desserts!

11.She has a very keen eye to see "detections" "Y"

12. Likes to laugh a lot! :)

13. A wonderful friend and a godly example to many! :)

14. Anna LOVES to be called "AHna" You know, where it sounds all proper! :) (okay, I'm totally just kidding, she does NOT like it! :D)

15. I like to tease Anna that she has many options in life... "5 C's" Remember them, or would you like me to list them all? :D

16. Proverbs 31:10 "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies" This

verse very much so describes my dear friend, Anna!(This is what Anna would have looked like in 1976!!!! BEAUTIFUL, HUH? )

LOVE YOU AHNA! ;)

Just for Fun...

As you know, Kim is out of town this weekend so Mandy has been staying with me here. Well tonight after getting home from work we decided to get some "fun" pictures on photobooth..sorta like ol' times! :) (We used to do that a lot) Hey..I should post some really old pics sometime of us doing this...anyway! Just thought I'd share some of these with you...some are just way too crazy to even post. Here's what we did though...we'd push the button and then strike a "pose" whenever it was ready to go off, so neither of us knew what the other was doing... :)

Here they are!






(We were going for a certain look here!) :{}







(Dont we look just SO much alike?)

Not Much News...

Well most of you may know we had the screening for ILLEGAL HOPE this past Sunday. It was once again another one of those bittersweet things. I think I cried more this time seeing it than any other time. Before the film actually showed I was so sick to my stomach. It wasn't like that at the other showing, I think I was so nervous because a lot of my friends who had never met my Mom were there and then also those who DID know my Mom got to see her again. I was scared of what people might think after seeing the film and then also what they'd think of ME. I know this is silly, but that's the reasons for feeling sick. The screening went okay though and I think people liked the film. It's not a movie that you get up from though and say "Oh, that's great!" It's rather depressing and sad, but it's true..it's what really happened. And I think more than anything, this film shows a lot of what my family went through.

Before the showing I had a wonderful weekend. Sage and Tera drove up from Oklahoma on Friday so we had the WHOLE weekend to spend with them!! :) On Friday night we stayed at the Hunt's house and barely got any sleep! :) Collyn and I stayed up till 4:00 am talking. Then on Saturday a big group of us went miniature golfing and to lunch! It was lots of fun...I'm no golfer though, that's for sure. I did FINALLY get one hole in one though on my last hole!! :) I was pretty excited! One of the guys I was with though, got like THREE hole in ones! ;) So then after that Sage, Tera, Mandy and I all went to our hotel. :) We had planned for Sage's birthday that we would take her to a hotel just for fun. Well her birthday was months ago, but this was our first chance!!! It ended up being SOOOO much fun! It was just us girls that whole evening. We went to dinner first, then went shopping for a little while and got some snacks and stuff. Then when we got back to the room, Sage did all of our hair in lots of curls! ;) And then Tera did Sage's hair. We were practicing for the next day, although none of us wore our hair that way! :P It was fun though. I was GOING to swim, but it ended up being too late so the pool was closed, too bad. Instead I went back and laid down and we all watched a movie! :)

Then Sunday was the big day...! The Bluedorns (Hans and Helena) were expected to arrive in at 11 something, so we went back to the house and everyone but me went to meet them. :) They went from there to Applebees to wait on me. I was waiting for BETHANY, ANNA, and MR.MORRIS!!! (Didn't know they were coming, did ya?) :D They ended up coming around 1:00 which was perfect, I had just enough time to get things ready and hold Luke for a long time! :) So we did introductions quick with my family and then we were off again! We met everyone at Applebees for lunch and then got some coffee afterwards. :) It was a lot of fun and SO great seeing everyone. Everything went great, aside from a FEW skirt technicalities. ;)



After the showing we all went out to dinner and then back to the Hunt's home. Their family is Such a blessing to Mandy and me. They are the epitome of hospitality. Not sure how many of us were there that night, but we played Empire, Spoons, guitar...umm..what else? :) Oh, 4 on a couch too! It was a lot of fun! The Morris' were planning on leaving at 6 am the next morning and I had to leave by 7:00 to get to work, SO we just decided to stay up ALL NIGHT! We ended up talking from about 3:00 am to 5:00 and then I just lost it, I could NOT keep my eyes open any longer. So I think at about 5:00, Besh and I fell asleep on the couch! :D Not sure if Anna got any pictures or not, if so I'm sure they look PRETTY interesting! :D ;) I was just SO wiped out. We slept for an hour and then had to get up. I was so tired and SO sad that I had to say goodbye to them. I left shortly after they did to be back at Kim's house in time. Monday was one hard day though. I was extremely tired and by 8:00 pm that night I could keep my eyes open NO longer. I left work early to go home and sleep! ;) I had a really nice day though hanging out one last time with Sage, Tera, Hans, and Helena. We all went to lunch at Magpies in St. Charles and then walked down by all the shops. Sad also saying good bye to them, hopefully we'll see eachother all again.


Mandy and I realized we have some of the greatest friends! It meant SO much to us that you all came up for the screening. We realize you never met our Mom but we wish so much that you could have. She would have loved you all! Thank you for being there for us!

Well, not too much has happened since then...check out my OTHER blog if you want to see my latest purchase! :) That was yesterday! :D

I've got a full weekend ahead of me with watching kids! Kim is going out of town tonight and so Ill be watching the kids until late Sunday evening. Which means I wont be going home at all :( but I think Lane is going to come spend the night one or two nights with me and then Mandy should be here each night to just have someone here with me. I'm trying to think of something fun to do on Saturday with all the kids, hopefully I'll think of something soon. :)

Well guess that is pretty much all my news. Hope your all having a nice week!

(PICTURES COURTESY OF ANNA, pronounced "ahna" :D) Oh, notice that I look WAY super tired! :D

Just Wondering...

Lately I've had a lot on my mind about standards and peoples reactions when confronted with an area that needs to be changed. After reading a blog post that a friend posted I've REALLY been thinking about it. I'll give you a little scenario to show you what I mean. (This will sound absurd, but you'll understand)

Jane- Hey Joe, is Katie a Christian?

Joe- Yup! :)

Jane- Oh okay, Hmm...well, I know she steals all the time, it's blatant.

Joe- Oh yea, well, I don't think stealing is right, but you know we are all in different areas and she just has different standards than us.

Jane- Umm, okay.

Alright, I know that is silly and unrealistic, but the thing is, I HAVE had many conversations like this just with some other issues, but just as black and white. How can we have different standards when there is only ONE standard, the Bible? I understand that people have interpreted things differently, that's going to happen, but when a verse says, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed; then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." 1 (Timothy 2:11-15) How can we read that and then believe it's alright for women to be ruling our country?? Or to be pastors of our churches? I'm sure this is going to cause some of you to get upset, but please really think about it. How can we read God's word, and a verse that so simply spells it out for us and then say, "we just have different standards" I'm afraid there are many of us who just want to pick and choose what we believe from the Bible. I AM INCLUDED IN THIS! It's sad, but true. There are areas in my life that I just don't want to change, so I use the excuse, "I'm not there yet" or something like that, but the truth is, I NEED to be there! We should be growing and changing each day to become more like Christ. I urge you all to read your bibles and find the true standard.

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This week I've been doing something hard....when my Mom was sick I would write email updates each night on her progress or...not progress. :( I wrote from August to February and this was the first time since writing them that I've gone back through them all. It was very very painful for me but necessary. It hurt a lot, but I'm very glad I did it because there were so many things that had happened I just slipped from my mind. A lot of good memories or special little things I had forgotten. I've organized all these emails, not knowing what I'll do with them, but Lord willing, one day I'll do something. Someone mentioned to me while I was writing all the emails to do a book, and I just refused, there was no way then I would write about all of this and I still am not sure I'd ever do anything like that, but I'm seeking the Lord's will to see if He would have me to do anything with them.

Other than that, there isn't too much going on. Back at my nanny job and working on lesson planning. This week Hanah and I are having "Creation Week" We are studying just the first chapter of Genesis and each day talking about something God created. Its been fun! Tomorrow we are heading back to my house to spend the day with Lane. He has a half day of school, so I'm going to take them to lunch then for ice cream and then possibly to a park, IF it's warm out...it's been super chilly here lately. :( OH...and then SAGE is coming here this Friday so I'm SO SO SO excited!!! We are having the screening for ILLEGAL HOPE here in Missouri this coming Sunday, the 14th. Anyone is invited!! :) I'll be missing you tons Besh!

Guess that's all my news! Have a great week!